True dive bars are rare creatures in Marin. For my green they include the 2 A.M. Club in Mill Valley, Smitty’s in Sausalito, Smiley’s Salon in Bolinas and the Silver Peso in Larkspur. Aficionados can argue that Pete’s 881 Club and the No Name deserve mention in this small club.
The purpose of this excursion into places that pour an honest libation in a convivial atmosphere is to acknowledge that the Silver Peso has changed ownership, with Max Perry and Conor Flaherty of Sam’s Anchor Café acquiring it from longtime Peso fixture Rebel Lee.
Whenever a gin mill changes hands, regulars fret that new ownership will come in and clean house, sweeping long traditions and comforts out the door while installing unwelcome changes that fool with the magical balance. But in public pronouncements both Perry and Flaherty swore on a case of empty Budweiser Longnecks that Peso’s spirit would not go missing.
The Peso is not the only Marin landmark watering hole seeing change. The Trident in Sausalito has closed its doors on Bridgeway. A haven for musicians and souls who seemingly didn’t have the heavy anchor of energy-sapping employment, the Trident was long on legend, with a laundry list of celebrities who sipped tequila sunrises — the cocktail was alleged to have been invented there — ranging from jazz horn legend Chet Baker to one-time Marin resident Van Morrison.
BioMarin Makes Big Deal
The orphan-drug specialist based in San Rafael has made the largest acquisition in its history by buying up Amicus Therapeutics for $4.8 billion. The two companies expect the deal to close by mid-year.
Amicus, like BioMarin, is focused on developing treatments for rare diseases with limited patient populations, also known as orphan diseases. While a concentration on conditions with smaller patient pools doesn’t seem to point to profits, the FDA gives orphan-drug companies certain advantages to encourage research into diseases that don’t affect large numbers of patients.
According to the Amicus website, there are 10,000 known rare diseases, and only 5% of those diseases have treatments that have been approved. The website also notes these diseases affect 300 million people across the globe, and 25 to 30 million in the U.S.
With BioMarin’s commercial success and its global scale, along with Amicus’s track record, and now the Amicus acquisition seems like a pretty good fit.
BioMarin, founded in 1997, has often made moves on companies with early drugs not yet ready for a U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. But Amicus is different in that it has assets that are closer to trials that could prove their worth and gain a green light from the FDA.
With 3,000 employees across the globe, and offices in 80 countries, BioMarin has the kind of scale that Amicus could only dream of. And BioMarin has tossed out its old playbook since talking to Dr. James Sabry out of retirement. Sabry was a deal-making ace at Roche but now holds down the chief business officer post at BioMarin.
Your Marin Moment
It’s time for a shout-out to Novato resident Jason Walsh. Not that long ago, Mr. Walsh was the editor-in-chief at this very publication. But as they say, things have changed.
While my direct briefing on the changes has been limited since I’m not technically an employee, here is a taste of what Walsh will be missing. Rather than approximately 15 issues a year, and the printing and distribution costs that go with them, the magazine’s editorial calendar will slim down to just six issues a year.
So, was Walsh pushed out? Was it a numbers game? Since I was not in the room, it would only be a guess on my part as to how the parting of the ways came about.
But as a long-term investigative journalist, I would offer this advice, follow the money.
The relationship between editor and writer is a fraught one. It requires a difficult balance of honesty and diplomacy. It must have equal doses of doubt and confidence, laughter and seriousness.
A publisher once said that every writer was a hope, every editor a disappointment. Not long after offering up that pearl of wisdom, she fired me.
In the time we worked together, Jason was available. He acted as an advocate, a partner-in-crime and a critic. He made my stuff better, not something every writer can say about every editor.
He will be missed.
At the same time, I look forward to working with the more nimble version of the magazine and to discover what kind of journalistic mischief we can get into.
Meagher is a contributing editor at NorthBay biz. To keep the wolf from the door, he is also a senior reporter for The Deal, a Manhattan-based digital financial news outlet where he covers smallcap equities, alternative investments and SPACs, a little alley off Wall Street.
